AFTER THE ATTACKS: VOICES

AFTER THE ATTACKS: VOICES; Tearful Firefighters Mourn for Brothers

By JOHN W. FOUNTAIN

Published: September 13, 2001

OAK PARK, Ill., Sept. 12—
In a teary corner of the brotherhood, firefighters here in the western Chicago suburb tested 300-foot fire hoses on South Boulevard today, white water spouting in the sun. But the hearts of Lt. Pat Biswurm and his men were many miles away.

The brotherhood, as they call it, are firefighters whose charge is to risk their lives to save others. With scores of New York firefighters still missing in the collapse of the World Trade Center, there was a sense of loss here.

''I'm just very, very sad,'' said Mr. Biswurm, 46, standing outside the Fire Department's headquarters. ''We hope that when they go through the rubble, they will still find some people alive.''

In Oak Park, there are no skyscrapers, and in his 20 years with the department nothing Mr. Biswurm has faced has approached the magnitude of what New York firefighters faced in Tuesday's inferno. Yet, he and his men had no trouble imagining the pain felt by their counterparts.

''I actually couldn't get up,'' Tom Blecha, 40, a fireman for 14 years, recalled of watching the scene of the World Trade Center disaster at home on television with his wife. ''It was paralyzing.''

''We lost one guy here,'' Mr. Blecha said, his voice cracking and his eyes filled with tears. ''That was 10 years ago, and it's still fresh in my mind. I can't imagine losing 200 to 300 people. How do you go on from that?'' JOHN W. FOUNTAIN